City resumes effort to develop Mantua site where market was planned (Philly.com, 10/4/2016)

The Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority is resuming efforts to develop an almost entirely city-owned two-block site in West Philadelphia’s Mantua section, almost two years after an eminent-domain challenge thwarted a previous attempt.

The Redevelopment Authority plans to issue a request for proposal in early 2017 to develop the properties bounded by 36th and 37th Streets, between Haverford Avenue and Wallace Street, agency director Gregory Heller said in an emailed statement Tuesday.

“We are committed to helping facilitate a high-quality, well-designed development that will benefit the residents of Mantua,” he said. “That includes much-needed community services, including retail such as places for the community to purchase fresh food.”

In late 2014, the city abandoned a legal fight to obtain the only property it had not already acquired at the site, the studio of artist James Dupree, for a development that was to have included a supermarket. Current plans for developing the site would leave the studio intact, Heller said.